What Does Galatians 2:10 Mean in the King James?
Only they would that we should remember the poor; the same which I also was forward to do.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The Greek links “the poor” to people brought low and “remember” to keeping them in mind, turning remembrance into sustained attention to those at risk of disappearing from view.
THE MEANING
The verse holds people in material poverty within the reader’s concern as the work moves forward. To remember them is to keep them present in sustained attention, and the speaker’s eagerness gives that remembrance movement.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that concern for people in material need is peripheral to the work of shared faith.
THE ROOT
τῶν πτωχῶν
tōn ptōchōn
GROWS FROM
πτωχ- (traditionally connected with πτώσσω, ptōssō)
Crouching or cowering; by extension, a person brought low and dependent.
“the poor” in this verse is tōn ptōchōn. The word’s traditional root connection carries the image of people brought low, beyond an abstract economic label. The request keeps them visible within the work rather than letting their need recede from view.
ALSO GROWS
ptōcheia: poverty
πτωχεία
The same word family names the condition as well as the people experiencing it.
ptōcheuō: to be or become poor
πτωχεύω
This verb from the same family appears in 2 Corinthians 8:9, showing the word family can describe entering that condition.
μνημονεύωμεν
mnēmoneuōmen
GROWS FROM
μνημον- (related to μνήμη, mnēmē)
To remember, keep in mind, or make mention of.
“remember” in this verse is mnēmoneuōmen. This verb can mean remembering or making mention, so the word opens beyond a passing thought. Those in need remain named and held in the community’s continuing attention.
ALSO GROWS
mnēmē: memory, remembrance
μνήμη
The related noun makes clear that the verb belongs to the language of memory and recall.
mnēmosynon: memorial, reminder
μνημόσυνον
This related word turns remembrance into something that preserves a person or event in view.
ἐσπούδασα
espoudasa
GROWS FROM
σπουδ-
spoud-
Earnest effort, diligence, or haste.
“was forward to do” in this verse is espoudasa. Here “forward” carries the sense of eager, earnest effort. The sentence joins keeping the poor in mind with a readiness to act on that remembrance.
ALSO GROWS
spoudē: diligence, earnestness
σπουδή
The noun names the serious effort carried by the verb in this verse.
spoudaios: earnest, diligent
σπουδαῖος
This related form carries the same quality of seriousness and care.
THE PATTERN
Remembering people in material need becomes visible in how a community responds to them.
For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?THE THREAD
And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury:Mark uses the same Greek noun πτωχός (ptōchos) for the widow, placing her in the same word family as the people named here. The scene brings one such person into clear view and shows how seeing her changes what the crowd counts as much.
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